Dolby International has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against RIM. The lawsuit claims RIM has used to Dolby audio technology in its smartphones and tablet without acquiring the necessary licenses for it. Apparently this lawsuit is specifically regarding the use of the HE AAC (High Efficiency Advanced Audio Coding) codec which RIM has been using for years now. The HE AAC codec is a standard in the audio technology world whose function is to allow play back to music that has been compressed to less than 10% of its original file size. This codec is commonly used in mp3 players, smartphones, tablets; etc.

With this lawsuit, Dolby is seeking to halt all RIM products that use this technology from hitting the market (think BlackBerry Bold 9900/9930; etc) until it's resolved. Hopefully this gets straightened out quickly without it having to affect us, the consumers.